Families see final moments of RAF pilots' lives

Monday 30 October 2006 15:37 BST

The final moments of two pilots shot down in a friendly fire incident at the start of the Iraq war were played to their families today at an inquest into their deaths.

Pilot Flight Lieutenant Kevin Main, 35, and navigator Flight Lieutenant Dave Williams, 37, can be heard speaking calmly to their colleagues over the radio as they dodge Iraqi radar engagements on their return from a mission to bomb south-west Baghdad.

The pair, together with three other Tornado GR4s, were sent under cover of darkness on March 22, 2003 to take part in the "Shock and Awe" aerial bombardment by coalition forces that would bring the city, and its ruling regime, to its knees.

But on their return to Ali Al Salem air base in Kuwait having used four of the five missiles they were carrying, one of the American Patriot missile defensive batteries - meant to protect against enemy planes - opened fire without warning.

The Oxfordshire Assistant Deputy Coroner Andrew Walker must determine whether equipment on their plane meant to identify them to ground staff as "friendly" failed, or whether external electronic inference caused the Patriot system to label them a threat.

The Oxford inquest today heard from RAF engineers that the Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) box onboard their plane had been successfully tested before they took off and appeared to have no faults when they were airborne.

Senior engineering officer Squadron Leader Russell Parker told the Coroner: "If a system worked on the ground and had been checked on the ground, I would not expect to see a failure in flight.

"There was nothing wrong with the aircraft." But this view was not shared by Wing Commander Stephen Cockram, who headed up the UK side of the Board of Inquiry.

He told the Coroner that the possibility of interference was "remote" and it was "more likely" a fuse had blown in the IFF system that would have made the Tornado unrecognisable to the Patriot system.

In the radio recordings of the time leading up to their deaths, sirens can be heard in the cockpit indicating when they are in the sights of old Soviet-style missile systems used by Iraq forces positioned around Baghdad.

The crew can be heard taking action to avoid the radars.

Another siren heard briefly before the end of the recording as the planes come in to land could have been a warning of the threat from the American Patriot missile, Wg Cdr Stephen Cockram told the Coroner.

But there was no indication the IFF failed, he said.

"As far as the crew was concerned, everything appeared to be operating normally within the Tornado," he said.

The inquest heard evidence from squadron commander of the men's 9th Squadron based at RAF Marham in Norfolk that there was "nothing remarkable" in the way the planes began their descent to base and he heard no warning of danger.

Wing Commander Derek Watson said: "I saw a very bright light appear in front of me on the ground which I took to be a missile round launch.

"I took a form of defensive manoeuvre and made a radio call to the others that I had seen a missile. I remember seeing a white light about a mile from my cockpit go up over my left shoulder and disappear at about 20,000 feet.

"I saw nothing more and carried on and landed." The inquest adjourned until tomorrow.